Sci Fi TV science or fiction?

I came to "sci-fi" very late. Mostly after 15 and I came to America, which means I still needed at least 10 more years to learn English, apply it and understand things. That, means a lot of movies and tv, just didn't make it for me ... I could see those painted cardboard sets in "Star-Trek", or the same thing behind Judy Garland, and it was a total turn-off for me. No woman, I have ever been with, or fantasized with, has ever been cardboard, and silly colored ... thus my view of things is ... probably overly "literary" and expecting to see some meaning here and there, and less "scientific", since that is a language that was harder for me to grab after English ... I could not make it past Calculus at UCSB 4 different times ... the wording just didn't translate, and I did not understand it, the conceptuality of the science and the story began falling apart, and for me, the past 5 years, the appreciation of the "metal/mechanical" (so to speak) has lost its appeal.

Sci-Fi, for me, was no different than "another world" out there. So, when seeing "Forbidden Planet", one of the dew pure "sci-fi" films, where a lot of the things thought and done then, were simply out of this world -- Robbie, not withstanding, of course! -- and quite literary, as were other things at the time, that glamorized the genre, which in many ways, was coming up to par with a lot of the science and technology at the time ... no one knew, or could conceive of an atom bomb, and all of a sudden, the scientific knowledge of it, is all over the media and movies!

I came from a world, where there was less of a "let's make and believe" that Hollywood helped create, and thus, a lot of things that lacked the "reality" didn't make sense to me, and looked stupid and off kilter. Not only sci-fi, mind you, but just as much in any of the other arts! Like saying there was no "sci-fi" in art, or music ... there was plenty, though it might not have been as "visible" as it eventually became. The synthesizer, for example, was originally, the first "sci-fi" instrument in "Forbidden Planet". Some might argue that calling that thing a synthesizer would be to stretch the truth!

The hard part, for me, is, the rock music and movie style of things that goes ... simon says ... and you believe it, and think it is good, because of how it was said. Thus a "lyric" or expression becomes more important than the whole event, or person behind it, and that distorts the equation just enough to make it quite difficult to see where the source is, and what the person behind it is really all about. After all these years, you still don't know Mick Jagger, and anything about him ... as a person, or what he believes in, other than some kind of a hedonistic life-style ... and you really think that he is that vain? Sci-Fi makes this equation tougher, as you want to believe a character, but you can't help not handle their environment.

That said, I have read some nice things, Heinlein, Zelazny (spelling), Bradbury, and a few others, though, if I put this on a parallel with the other arts, I think that literature is the one art that helped bring this to the forefront a lot more, though you could say that tv and film helped make it famous. I liked Arthur C Clarke as a writer, and not as involved in film or anywhere else. I seriously doubt anyone will ever have the guts and gall to film Childhood's End ... because in the end, it is a serious indictment of society, and its idealism.

That said, there are some shows I have enjoyed that fit this mode well ... the Stargate series, despite its repetitive nature, had some nice things and acting. I happen to have liked "Red Dwarf" that was funnier with its cardboard sets. Babylon 5 had some grand things and designs, but was horribly directed by folks that didn't know directing to make it better, specially considering the quality of actors they had in their shows.